I'm just not enjoying these as much as I hoped I would. They are so bloated, and are trying way too damn hard to be LOTR2. I'm not going to bother going through the plot. There's really not a whole lot of it here, anyway. It's basically one big action scene after another. A lot of which gets confusing.I know they're bound by the book, but it's just so darn unbelievable that a troop of 13 dwarves would go through this adventure, and all these battles, and not a one gets killed, or even seriously hurt. The elves, legolas, and Tauriel, are entertaining, but are basically superheros who can do no wrong. The movie looks fantastic, as expected. I love the whole LOTR/Hobbit world, and they obviously spend lots of time making it all perfect for the screen. Killer cinematography as well.The dragon, Smaug, is the best part of the movie, and is a marvel of CG. easily one of the best CG creations I've yet seen. very well done.The movie ends totally leaving us hanging, which I guess isn't surprisingly. I really think these would be better if they were shorter(or less of them!), and stopped trying so hard. Just let them be a simple little Hobbit adventure. Oh, well. I'll certainly see the third one, and I'm sure it will be more of the same. At least Benjamin really liked it.

Anchorman 2- More of the ridiculousness of the first. It didn't have the same shocking ridiculousness of the first since we had seen it before, but it was a fun movie.

Logged

All right, we are going to use a fan brush here and uh why don't you take some hunter green and we are going to put a happy little bush right down over here in the corner there and that'll just be our little secret and if you tell anyone that that bush is there I will come to your house and I will cut you.

I'm just not enjoying these as much as I hoped I would. They are so bloated, and are trying way too damn hard to be LOTR2. I'm not going to bother going through the plot. There's really not a whole lot of it here, anyway. It's basically one big action scene after another. A lot of which gets confusing.I know they're bound by the book, but it's just so darn unbelievable that a troop of 13 dwarves would go through this adventure, and all these battles, and not a one gets killed, or even seriously hurt. The elves, legolas, and Tauriel, are entertaining, but are basically superheros who can do no wrong. The movie looks fantastic, as expected. I love the whole LOTR/Hobbit world, and they obviously spend lots of time making it all perfect for the screen. Killer cinematography as well.The dragon, Smaug, is the best part of the movie, and is a marvel of CG. easily one of the best CG creations I've yet seen. very well done.The movie ends totally leaving us hanging, which I guess isn't surprisingly. I really think these would be better if they were shorter(or less of them!), and stopped trying so hard. Just let them be a simple little Hobbit adventure. Oh, well. I'll certainly see the third one, and I'm sure it will be more of the same. At least Benjamin really liked it.

There's a very good reason why the company of 14 have not suffered more than one casualty so far. If you're familiar with the book then you should know why.

Anyways, what's amusing is how even the movies have been skipping over material like the first half of the events in the Murkwood. What isn't so amusing was how Thorin kept taking Bilbo's best lines from his confrontation with Smaug. That said, it was still nice to see Gandalf in full wizard mode, and the Ring of Power finally getting used as its fully intended to be used as (i.e. a really sweetass magic item), plus it was amusing to see Legolas putting the Orc Bitter (or was that the Goblin Bitter) to good use after it got confiscated from Thorin. I could also tell just how much the battle with Smaug in the movie was solely meant to serve as the movie's capstone.

At least I can now anticipate how they're going to handle The Hobbit 3: With A Vengeance. Namely, its going to wrap up every sideplot prior to the pitched battle against Smaug, then its going to start up the Battle of the Five Armies which is going to rage on up until Bilbo bumps his head and gets knocked out, and finally the aftermath plus any tie-ins to the Lord of the Rings trilogy they want to throw in.

And for those of us not familiar with the book? (I actually chose not to re-read it because so much stuff had been added in. Seemed like it'd only cause confusion.)

Code:

The Battle of the Five Armies and the fact that up until that point in the story everybody but the Orcs had the same goal of seeing Smaug disposed of once and for all (even the Woodland Elves as the king did offer to assist Thorin on his quest in exchange for a share of the wealth), whereas the Battle is motivated by the same greed and self-interest that led to Smaug's arrival and the tragedy that followed. The company of 14 who made it through the quest relatively intact through the general cooperation of the peoples of the region are all but destroyed in the ensuing battle for the prize of the quest, including Thorin who, having repeated his grandfather's mistake, is on his deathbed by the time Bilbo regains consciousness.

And for those of us not familiar with the book? (I actually chose not to re-read it because so much stuff had been added in. Seemed like it'd only cause confusion.)

Code:

The Battle of the Five Armies and the fact that up until that point in the story everybody but the Orcs had the same goal of seeing Smaug disposed of once and for all (even the Woodland Elves as the king did offer to assist Thorin on his quest in exchange for a share of the wealth), whereas the Battle is motivated by the same greed and self-interest that led to Smaug's arrival and the tragedy that followed. The company of 14 who made it through the quest relatively intact through the general cooperation of the peoples of the region are all but destroyed in the ensuing battle for the prize of the quest, including Thorin who, having repeated his grandfather's mistake, is on his deathbed by the time Bilbo regains consciousness.

I thought you were only going to talk about what happened up to this point in the movies. Thanks for the ending spoilers. Beware John.I read the book a LONG time ago, and don't remember a single thing about it. Probably for the best.To me, what you say there really doesn't excuse a dwarf or tgwo getting sliced in half by a random Orc. I honestly don't really care, though, as I'm not liking these movies enough TO care.

And for those of us not familiar with the book? (I actually chose not to re-read it because so much stuff had been added in. Seemed like it'd only cause confusion.)

Code:

The Battle of the Five Armies and the fact that up until that point in the story everybody but the Orcs had the same goal of seeing Smaug disposed of once and for all (even the Woodland Elves as the king did offer to assist Thorin on his quest in exchange for a share of the wealth), whereas the Battle is motivated by the same greed and self-interest that led to Smaug's arrival and the tragedy that followed. The company of 14 who made it through the quest relatively intact through the general cooperation of the peoples of the region are all but destroyed in the ensuing battle for the prize of the quest, including Thorin who, having repeated his grandfather's mistake, is on his deathbed by the time Bilbo regains consciousness.

I thought you were only going to talk about what happened up to this point in the movies. Thanks for the ending spoilers. Beware John.I read the book a LONG time ago, and don't remember a single thing about it. Probably for the best.To me, what you say there really doesn't excuse a dwarf or tgwo getting sliced in half by a random Orc. I honestly don't really care, though, as I'm not liking these movies enough TO care.

There's a reason why I employed the 'code' tags.

Anyways, there's like twenty minutes of story left bookwise from where the second movie left off, and its pretty obvious where this story's going. I'm not kidding when I said that the first movie ended at the book's halfway mark.

And yeah, with the waters so muddied at this point, I doubt the impetus for, and the aesop of, the Battle of the Five Armies will remain the same from the book.

Code:

The Orcs only got involved in the Battle of the Five Armies due to the fact that all the civilized folk were at each others' throats and they figured they could swoop in and wipe them all out now that they were both weakened and in one place. With the movie, it seems like they may change the meaning of the battle to one of inevitability in order to stop the greater evil of Sauron instead.

If you read the books, are you more impressed by the movies because...y'know, they're fitting like every detail from the book?

The Wolf on Wall Street

Okay, first off, and a warning to you especially Grim.... THIS MOVIE IS THREE FUCKING HOURS....My everything hurt by the end.

Otherwise, what a ride!! I had my mouth agape like half the film! It is a film about its "excess" in everything, a "dramedy" chronicling just about every moment it not only needs to...but also whatever the hell it wants to.

Let me just get some issues out of the way before I gush on some more... On one hand, some scenes really could have been trimmed down, they go on way to long for their only moderately interesting "pay off" (two speech scenes were neither interesting or terribly inspirational if that's what they were going for). Some scenes could have used better editing or relied upon having simply faster conversations. Three hours is a long fucking time to be sitting, so while I think this film is absolutely superb, you feel the time going by because your back is sore.

On the other, the directing is off the wall, the humour bounces from filthy to silly, the drama can shock, and the acting was flawless. It's interesting to mention only now into DiCaprio's career, but he can do physical comedy and he can do it well. The drug-induced frenzy's were like the outrageous ones in 'Get Him to the Greek' but cranked up to include more tits, ass, dick, and over-the-top foolery. This is like a modern day 'Great Gatsby' but with all the elements that made 'Casino' and 'Goodfellas' so much fun watch... and with a lot more humour that I didn't even expect out of Scorscese.

Despite its incredibly long run time, it's a fun movie that hits all the high and low notes perfectly, and it has an incomparable energy the whole way through. Recommended.

If you read the books, are you more impressed by the movies because...y'know, they're fitting like every detail from the book?

Aside from the fact that they haven't, I will say that I am because its still damn near close, but only kinda because again, they seem to be putting a little too much information in (and rewriting bits like making Thorin look a lot younger than he is in the story; he's seriously the second oldest member of the company (not including Gandalf) being beaten out by the one Dwarf in the movie that's sporting white hair, that's why he confides in him so much, they're the only members of the party old enough to have lived through Smaug's attack on the Dwarven Kingdom way back when and are thus the two most personally invested in the quest).

'Tis the season of Xmas movies and at work (I work at a high school) most of the teachers were showing Xmas movies the past week like Polar Express, Elf, etc. One teacher aired a movie that is an Xmas classic that I immediately went, "Yo, that's right! It IS a Christmas movie!" That lovely Xmas classic is.....

Dice, no worries, as I have zero intention of seeing Wolf in the theater. I have no interest in that movie. I'll still check it out when it comes home, though.

Aeolus, how long ago did you read Hobbit? Either it was recent, or you have a great memory. I read it probably 25+ years ago. Add i my terrible memory and it's all new to me. same with pretty much any book to movie adaptation.

I'm a fan of David O'Russel, so I was damn pleased here too.The cast and music were especially prime choices. The film is based in the 70s, so expect nothing but awesome funk and classic rock. And also, taking the leads are Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Bradley Cooper, and Louis CK..... Or otherwise: Batman, Lois Lane, Mystique, Hawkeye, soon to be Rocket Raccoon, and Legendary Comedian.

A lot of people mark this as a full comedy, and while it has its funny moments (very funny even), I think more than anything it's just telling an entertaining story about con men, gangsters, politicians, and the FBI in an amusing and complicated game. It's a bit slow to warm up, and I'm not sure how grand the pay-off is (say, in comparison to the Ocean's 11 scam being the top of its class), but it's a fine film with great characters playing will amongst each other.

My main issue was that everything happened too quickly in the setup. The "we're getting married" after the ball was the way everything in the movie happened until the big conflict erupted. And there was no reason whatsoever for the snowman character. And the whole reason for the conflict in the first place was parents following poorly-worded advice in the worst possible way, which led to an orphaned girl continuing their policies that could only lead to disaster. The advice was essentially "You must learn to control this - fear is your enemy." And their reaction was "Never use this. Let it ball up inside of you and be afraid of what would happen if you ever let it out."

Saw Snow White and the Huntsman yesterday night. Supremely stupid movie with just one or two redeeming ideas. The dark forest was genuinely creepy. Somehow not using actual dwarves as the dwarves works out far less well in this than it does in LotR, and little people actors noticed (and were pissed). And as others have noted, there is no world in which Kristen Stewart has ever been or ever will be "fairer" than Charlize Theron.

Upstream Color -I'm pretty sure I'm not the audience for these ultra hip and pretentious movies like this. I didn't much like Primer, either. The movie just felt like a series of scenes without any cohesive whole. I never cared about these characters at all. I can't say much more, as I've already forgotten it. Not a good sign.

Hell - A subtitled German film. Yet another dark and dreary post "something horrible happened to destroy the world" movie. In this case, it seems the Sun has gone on the fritz, and started baking the Earth. Because of this, there's death and destruction everywhere. And, as usual, people are killing each other for resources. So all this has happened before the movie begins. We just follow a few of the stragglers trying to make their way through. The movie does a good job of making you "feel" how hot it is there. These people look downright miserable. There is no happiness to be had. Well, except a slight smirk when someone pops in a CD of that 99 balloons song. Not a bad movie. It just doesn't really go anywhere in it's 90 minute run time. We do get a slight bit of hope, and I found that fitting for all that came before.